Marijuanaa's 1st 400w Grow

Hello RIU...
Over the last year or so, i have been leaching on your information... slowly storing it up to finally put some of it into practise...

After gathering ALOT of information, i decided i liked the sound of the "White Widow" strain. I gathered materials and bought a 400w HPS growlight.... and after two weeks and ALOT of cuts, bruises and burns, i finally finished building the growbox.... (Picture of dimensions included below)

Anyway, I purchased 5 white widow seeds from a seedbank that had no rep or anything and they were BRILLIANT! seeds came within 24 hours of me ordering WITH 1 DNA Sour Cream seed for free (Note: ALL SEEDS FEMINIZED )

One close mate of mine suggested i grow some easy plant in my growbox first to test and see where some problems could be.... I found that the light stretched my plants abit and created weak stems so i got a fan to blow them abit and it strengthened the stems a great deal.

I bought some Perlite & Vermiculite next along with some compost from my local hardware store and mixed it all up and i think i am ready....

So with no delay, lets begin DAY 1 of my grow journal

Day 1
01/12/09

Hello guys, Today was quite rushed since i was at work and when i got home, there were my White Widow seeds crammed through the postbox by the postman Lucky that they were in ALOT of protective wrapping... i unwrapped them to find my 5 White Widow fem seeds and 1 DNA Sour Cream Seed fem... (Ecstatic since on their website they said "Free DNA Sour Cream Seed Fem if you spend over £50, and i only spent £21)

I opened the seeds and decided that i might aswell get on my way with them, i decided to stick two in damp tissue, in a bowl, in a box, in an old cloth under my HPS (for heat) and its staying around 21-24 degrees celsius...

The other 3 WW Seeds and the 1 DNA Sour is in a draw out of harms way for now.

I also mixed my compost up, adding 10 cups of compost per two cups of perlite and half a cup of vermiculite, i hope this is ok for my babies...

Ive got work then im going to meet my mate tomorrow, il update the guide and see the state of my seeds once i get back....
Peace RIU

...are you goind to add some dolomite lime to your mix? Subscribed! ....pics come'n???

Hello man, Erm im on a real tight budget... i stole all of my fans out of a skip heading for the scrap yard... thats how tight my budget is Pics are defo coming, once i have a sign of life otherwise there isn't much point and i wouldn't want to waste your guys time in showing you pictures of mixed compost and my pathetic ducting work (drainage pipe with tape wrapped around it to keep water and light out)... But yeah mate, pics to come and im not sure on adding anything else untill my pH meter arives (yes guys, i started WITHOUT pH'ing ANYTHING :O)

Day 2
02/12/09

Hello guys.... Today when i woke up i decided to quickly give my seeds a scan over and couldn't see any sign of life and i was slightly worried but also knew that these things take time and i headed off to work....

When i got home from visiting a friend, i checked my seeds which i placed in the airing cuboard and i was very impressed, both seeds have cracked open and both have signs of a small root inside , Im guessing that if given two more days, they will open up more and release their root

Pictures to come once it sprouts the soil guys, just trying to get everything set up and i can't find my camera yet,
Peace

Day 3
03/12/09

Sup again guys, Today has been a very good day for my plants, They had both sprouted abit when i checked them before work at 8, but they both just had roots about 2 mm's long so i put them back and waited till i got home from work, where i found both roots about a cm long so put them in the soil, roots down... So i have two White Widow Fem seeds in soil under my HPS...

I also decided to put the DNA Sour Cream Fem seed along with another White Widow Fem seed in some tissue and germinate those aswell, i hope in afew days they will have sprouted aswell....

Pictures to come very soon! as soon as it breaks the soil, you guys will be the first one to see it...
Peace



UPDATE:
4 Hours After Original Post


My good good mate (who also grows) wanted me to show him the seed sprouted on webcam. At first i didn't want to touch them, let alone dig them up... after abit of persuading, he got me to dig one up... im sure little stress was caused due to the fluffy soil... anyway, i looked at the seed and roots and the roots have ATLEAST DOUBLED IN SIZE! i just burst out laughing on camera when i saw them....

Cant wait for tomorrow's check

Day 4
4/12/09

What a dull day... yesterday i transfered two seeds to soil after germination, today there is no change with them (Both WW)...

I checked the two seeds that i was trying to germinate (1 White Widow and 1 DNA Sour Cream). once again.. the white widow does its thing and has cracked and has a root about to sprout out... The DNA however dosn't seam to of changed... it was a light shade of brown with small black dots all over it so il have to keep trying with that one...

Day 5
5/12/09

Wow, what a wacky 24 hours!

Two seedlings sprouted soil last night and i left them... today i had to go out but i left them under the HPS for about 10 hours and that has slightly fried one of them and the other looks healthy... Il put them both in a draw in 0 light for a day and see if they improve... Il be sure to update you guys on what happenes....

ANY THOUGHTS ON ME LEAVING IT IN 20-30 HOURS DARKNESS? PLEASE LET ME KNOW! The rounded leaves are brown at the spots that got the most light and a beautiful rich green on parts that didn't....

peace

...well, my suggestion would be to put your sprouted seedlings under floresants, maybe a couple - few inches away from them, light on 24/7 for a couple weeks.

Your HPS will also work, but as you said, you've got heat burns. You might want to keep the HPS about 3 - 4 feet away if you must use it. Good luck!

strain stalker said:

...well, my suggestion would be to put your sprouted seedlings under floresants, maybe a couple - few inches away from them, light on 24/7 for a couple weeks.

Your HPS will also work, but as you said, you've got heat burns. You might want to keep the HPS about 3 - 4 feet away if you must use it. Good luck!

Click to expand...

the HPS is fixed man... its about 2 ft away and it cant be moved...
i am letting them have about 3-4 hours of the light a day with a fan blowing on them for now... just untill i can be certain that they are going good... i might buy a CFL within the next week but im tight for cash at the mo...
peace

Day 12
12/12/09

Hello RIU, Sorry about no updates... forgot i was ment to be logging it

Anyway, I now have all 6 plants growing, however they arn't big and my biggest has a leaf-span of an inch i did have problems keeping the box below 30 degrees before... suddenly the growbox dosn't go over 20.. but having such high temperatures ment i couldn't have the light on for long

I have ordered a 125w 6400k CFL to have in my growbox instead of the 400w HPS for now, and i have decided to use the CFL for the 6 plants untill they are roughly a ft tall... i know that 6 plants under 1 CFL is insane but if they begin to lack light, il have to begin flowering... im just going to play it how it goes and see what happenes

peace

Day 18
18/12/09

Hello RIU, I have decided to post once a week instead of daily since i am a busy guy (thank god for timers or my plants wouldn't be getting light)

Anyway, the 125w Blue Spectrum CFL came in the post afew days back and i have been using it... My plants are looking good apart from two of them (The DNA sour cream and a white widow), they are still quite small and have leaves bending down ... il have to wait afew weeks to see how they do, putting them in different spots to see if its the light they are getting.

The biggest plant has a leafspan of about 3" (the length of both the leaves are about 1.5") and also have developed another good set of leaves. One WW also has 6 more small leaves ready to grow so its all looking good.

In the United Kindom, we have had heavy snow today. I am using snow to put into the mouth of my intake vent (it sucks air from outside) and its helping keep the growbox cool when i think its getting abit warm for my babies.

Il keep you updated,

Peace

...pics?

Hello guys
I am sorry for the long gap... i didn't have enough time to sit and update it daily nor weekly but ive managed to find abit more time now

I know strainstalker wanted pictures so here they are, i hope you like them

Please let me know what you think

Lookin good bro, seems your doin all that is needed....beautiful ladies!

I love your ladies!

Thanks guys

im stretching them up slightly, then i need to somehow slow their growth down for 4 weeks untill i get back from holiday.. then i can flower those babys

...topping them will slow the height growth some for ya...

Hello guys. i am VERY VERY sorry to report some VERY bad news.

I did the very foolish thing (probably the most stupid thing a marijuana grower could do) and i was growing on my parents property since i have not yet moved out.
Last monday at roughly 1pm (i was at work) my parents went wondering into my room to discover my small farm. When i walked in the door at 5pm, my parents told me how they had found the plants, ripped them up and disposed of the plants/CFL (HPS was hidden in the top of the growbox and since they didn't see it, didn't take it)

So thats it, my plants are all gone. 5 White widow fem and 1 sour cream fem (all about a ft tall when taken) I almost cried for them because to be honest, i would rather see my parents butcher a baby infrount of me...

I dont know when i will be next growing, but rest in peace my beautiful ladys, you were something to me. :'(

The growbox was then destroyed and taken away to be burnt...
I am now at a point where growing again would be near impossible. I am just another brain to these fourms, stressing the fact that you should ALWAYS ask your parents first.